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Filipinos Rally Marking Revolt That Toppled Dictator Marcos

February 25, 2017 12:05 PM

VOA News

A protester displays her message during a rally at the Heroes Cemetery to protest the interment on its grounds last year of late Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos, as the nation marks the 31st anniversary of the People Power revolution that ended his 20-year-rule, Feb. 25, 2017, in suburban Taguig city, east of Manila, Philippines.The placard reads: "Block Dictatorship!"

Thousands of protesters gathered Saturday in the Philippines capital of Manila to mark the anniversary of the People Power revolution that unseated dictator Ferdinand Marcos 31 years ago.

Protesters marched through the streets to the People Power democracy shrine in Manila, which marks the spot where millions of Filipinos gathered in 1986 in a mostly peaceful uprising to remove Marcos from power.

The uprising served as a model for later peaceful revolts throughout the world and brought an end to a 20-year rule marked by corruption, scandals and human rights abuses.

The event is celebrated annually in the Philippines, though this year the government commemoration ceremony was relatively modest. President Rodrigo Duterte did not attend the event. He instead chose to spend the weekend at his southern home in Davao.

Duterte, last year, allowed Marcos’s body to be buried in a heroes’ cemetery, which led to massive outcry among Filipinos who opposed the dictator.

Supporters of Duterte held their own rally in Manila on Saturday, praying for the success of Duterte’s war against drugs, which has led to the reported killing of at least 2,555 suspected drug dealers since he took office last year. Another 4,000 people have been killed during the crackdown under unexplained circumstances.